On Monday, September 16, 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 (below), which began the first peacetime military draft in the United States, and also established the Selective Service System as an independent agency responsible for identifying and inducting young men into military service. During World War II, legislation amended the act to require all men from 18 to 65 to register, with those aged 18 to 45 being immediately liable for induction.
